Steel Vipers
by Lucius the Eternal
Summary: Captain Argos of the 3rd Company Adeptus Astartes Chapter Steel Vipers, Encounters Xeno's on one of their Chapter's Recruiting Worlds. His Chapter Master, the Steel Viper himself, has come to reclaim his planet. However there are darker forces at play.


Steel Vipers

By Sean Coburn

Chapter I: Bonds

Chapter Master Reyleth lifted his head, staring into deep space. The optical sense s of his helmets vision, gave him a crystal clear view of the planet. Their flagship _Vindicator of Steel_ orbited a planet they all knew as Jharvas. He turned around, facing his fellow captains. They each stood in respective rows. They looked, similar in color, but not in armor. All of them wore unique Artificer power armor, some of archaic pattern, and others of newer designs. Yet their armor was too splendidly designed to really tell. They each wore their own personal and company heraldry on their armor.

Reyleth, took off his helm and cradled it in his arm, and smiled.

"My sons, my honorable captains, my friends; we are finally home." He looked at each one of his captains, his gaze seeping into each one. There was a distinction in his gaze. His pupils where a black slit, rather than the normal back circle. And the color of his eyes was of a reptilian green. However, they all beamed, experiencing the gratitude of having their father of steel welcoming them so warmly. His eyes didn't make them uneasy, for they all shared the same kind of eyes. Even the mortals back on their home planet shared the same kind of eyes. It was some form of natural mutation there. There was a vox message specifically sent into the viewing dock where Reyleth was: _Lord, descent will take place within in the hour, all preparations have been completed._

Reyleth sighed, but not of annoyance or apathy. However he knew the only thing daunting to come was the meeting with the Imperial Guard Lord General of the Vendoland 101st Regiment. It was a political agreement to assist them in preparation to exterminate a Xeno threat that had taken root to one of their worlds, as well as one of the chapters own recruiting worlds. He didn't mind mortals, or the Imperial Guard. However, he was just upset by this ridiculous event that had occurred. At some point, as Reyleth was lost in his thoughts, 3rd Company Captain Argos took a step forward.

"Lord, are you okay?" he asked, quickly followed by Reyleth coming back to reality.

"Why yes, pardon my absence. I was merely in thought."

"Lord, if it is okay, would you mind sharing with my brother captains and I what seems to be taking your attention?"

"Well, it's nothing important, it is mostly just that the thought of Xenos on one of our recruiting worlds." muttered Reyleth unamused.

"Ah, yes that…" Argos began to trail off in silence. One of the other captains a stoic man named Desius opened a vox link to Argos directly saying: _Nice job, Argos._ However Argos quickly retorted: _Our lord said he didn't mind!_ And then the vox link was cut.

"My sons, go check on your companies, I need to speak with someone." said Reyleth. "Oh, and don't take offense that I am seeing you off so suddenly." he said again, with a quick smile. They each bowed down, exited one after the other. As soon as they left, Reyleth went over to a pedestal and pushed down on a button. We waited for a few moments for someone to respond, but after a short delay, he finally got someone on the line.

_Yes, lord? Pardon the delay there was a quick interference with the planets channels being filtered._

He calmly said: "That is alright, bring my Adept Jes'thai."

_He is on his way, lord._ After a few minutes a figure in red robes walked in, metal footsteps clanging against the metallic flooring. The figure then bowed a deep bow. Reyleth could hear the whirring of gears and the sounds of mechanical parts running through the figures augmented body.

"You called, Viper of Steel?" rasped the figure through a vox implemented voice.

"That indeed I did. Jes I want you to take a look at my left eye. Something is wrong with it. The lens may be damaged or something I cannot tell." said Reyleth lifting a gauntleted hand pointing at his augmented eye. Jes'thai took a long moment of silence staring at it. He was looking at the smooth brass that covered a small portion around his eye socket, and at the smooth purple eye lens. The lens was shaped of that of a slender long triangle, with curved edges. Sure it looked nice, but it was there to help improve his operations in battle. It also gave a synchronization connection with his specially crafted helmet, causing him to percept the depth of field much easier, and there was an increased vision nullifier which allowed him to see through the brightest of light. As well as the opposite, allowing him to see into the darkness.

Jes'thai walked over and one of his protruding spider-like arms came out from underneath his robes. It slithered over to the towering Chapter master, lifting its self up in the air, and a red been shot from it, moving in a seemingly random form. It then made a few clicking noises before quickly sliding back underneath the adept.

"Lord, your eye is merely out dated. I shall see to it you receive a better one." wheezed Jes'thai.

"If that is so, then make it of the same model." Reyleth grunted.

"When we reach the surface, allow me to make haste to the Mechanicum's lead Machine Temple to see what they have, and or what they can do." He paused for a moment and then continued

"However, please note that your current model of a lens is currently 200 years outdated. It will be quite difficult to find a model of the same numeral code and have the latest technology. But do not be concerned about that, the priesthood should have something applicable." said Jes'thai.

In the underbelly of the _Vindicator of Steel_ Kaelseph looked out a small window viewing the dark void of space. He sighed and returned his attention to the mortal crew's priest of the Machine Cult. He returned to pray to the Omnissiah and the Machine god. _Funny thing, _he thought, _that most human beings in the galaxy pray and worship the God-Emperor of mankind as well, a god. And yet we worship him merely as the Omnissiah of the Machine God._ As soon as the service was done, Kaelseph headed to the library, as that is where he kept to himself most of the time. He didn't have many friends, but he wasn't completely alone. He would occasionally have a drink with a friend of his whom he knew for a while now. Her name is Aleiya. She was an attractive gal who somehow found interest in a bleak man such as himself. They met at a local bar; it was when Kaelseph first got recruited onto the ship as its announcer. Not the commanding decks announcer, but to the certain parts of the ship. Since he worked shifts he only worked small hours, luckily giving him more free time.

After a couple more minutes, Kaelseph gave up on waiting for Aleiya's slow ass, and began to walk off away from the bench in the grand library and decided to back to his quarters. However, it was not then that long ago when he heard a feminine squeal behind him. He stopped, and made the barest of interest of care by turning his head in the direction of it.

And there she was, standing there with her hands at her hips. Kaelseph sighed and walked back over. "Heh, you're slow as usual."

"Leave it be Kaelseph! My time was required for a longer period because of the docking process." she muttered. He scratched at his stubble, thinking that maybe he was being a bit dense for forgetting about that.

"Well whatever, that's over now, you're here, and I'm here, let's just get a move on." he sighed. She also sighed as well walking in pace with him. They exchanged little words, as the halls were busy with people.

"Ah, I'm curious Kaelseph, you were born here, do you have family you plan on visiting?" said Aleiya meekly. Kaelseph scratched his stubble once more choosing his words.

"Well, I'll be frank. I do, but they are the least of my concerns." said Kaelseph. She made a noise of amusement. She then brushed aside some of her auburn hair.

"So, are you perhaps on bad terms with them? Or maybe…" She paused for a moment. "Are they... perhaps dead?" Kaelseph laughed to that.

"No no, sweet-lips, they aren't dead but yes, I am not on too good terms with them." he paused his laughter. "They just are unhappy with me deciding to joining the Chapter rather than becoming one of those mongering machine freaks." he paused once more scratching, "It's was tradition I suppose all my father's above me did it, and my brother did it, but not I. No way in the infinite hells would I." she mused at him for a bit. Then let out a feminine squeal.

"How interesting, and here I thought you were part of a family that had a living, of being mechanics or miners." Kaelseph scoffed to that.

"Why thank you, miss. But no my family is not that pathetic." He glanced over at her, seeing that she just realized that she insulted him. Aleiya flustered with her hands and looked away trying to think of something to say.

"Err, I… I didn't mean to be rude like that, It's just I dunno… It sounded better in my head." He reached over and patted her back.

"It's alright love. Let's just get on drinking." He used his head nodding to the doors in front of him.

Reyleth looked down at the small obelisk that was a grave. Most Astartes leave many things of their humanity behind when they ascend. However, they were still human. And Reyleth knew this better than most. He still felt bonds, as old as they were that humans still felt all the time. He stood up from the grave looking around seeing how he took up much space. He then walked off his captains following him. _I don't understand why would our lord go to a place like this? It's always, to this specific grave. I mean seriously, it's just a corpse rotting in the ground. _It was Desius, who rounded on him. _Look you damned imbecile, this rotting corpse in the ground was our Father's mother back when he was a mortal. He still feels that small bond between mother and son. Even as old as it is, he unlike the fools like YOU, remembers that we were all once human._ Argos stood their lagging behind. And behind his helmet he was reddened at his legendary ignorance.

"And here I am still wondering how you are a captain." said Desius. Argos gave no reply and the others did not bother to intrude or inquire on Desius's whippings on the young Argos. Then they both jogged back up to pace with their fellow captains.

Reyleth sat in a large throne listening to the Lord Generals words; which after a while became a dull mumble. Then at one point, Reyleth stood up. All heads turned to him. "The solution is simple. There are eldar on our recruiting world Hevastus. They intend to mess with the indigenous population there. We merely have to kill them all. Our friend Lord General of the Vendoland has dispatched some Culexus Assassins. I will lead the spear tip straight to them." He paused and looked at the Lord General, "You will have half of your regiment split up to protect their villages. And ensure they are safe. And the rest of the regiment will come with us." The Lord General adjusted his coat before saying: "Why yes of course."

"Good. Now then, my brothers, and fellow Imperial Guard friends, shall we dispatch?" he smiled, and the bulk of people and Astartes gave an affirmative cheer.

Traveling to Hevastus was a simple thing; the planet was in the same solar system as Jharvas. The planet itself was your typical agricultural world, perfect for humans. The tribes there however, were nomadic people. And they would move every season. Unfortunately for Commissar Callidon he had the lovely mission to protect a tribe in the midst of their nomadic relocation. And to further envelope his displeasure the tribe was heading south to where the threat of Eldar was. He was an ageing man, and he stood there leaning on his sword using it as a cane. Watching the tribal people place a wild assortment of objects in large leather wraps. _Primitive, Great, Just want I want to see._ While idly standing there one of the population's small children meekly walked towards him, a small girl, and looked up at him. She was surprisingly clean, but crudely wrapped in a leather dress.

"And what would your name be, little missy?" He asked with a smile. The girl recoiled from his sudden question, with a look of fear and confusion all over her face. She then ran back to her other kind.

"It would be wise if you were not to scare the tribes' children, sir." said his assistant.

"Shut up, Phrenz." wheezed Callidon. Suddenly as things were starting to move, he heard a scream. He looked to see where it came from but something ugly caught his attention. He saw a large, scaly muscular beast with two eyes and four tusks protruding from its lizard like maw. Its claws were as long a full grown man. The beast stood up on its hind legs and roared. Callidon looked with horror at the monstrous thing, but the tribesmen were acting before the Imperials. They pulled out a wild assortment of tusks and rope. As some of the tribesmen were assembling things, the others began to draw the beasts' attention swinging clubs or spears. The dragon-thing began to turn towards the Imperial Guard instead, interested in the men wearing green. Callidon turned to his men and barked orders to try and draw the beasts' attention away from the tribesmen. A few squads ran to the beast's side firing las guns and such at it. However, that did little to the beast's scales.

Although the guns did do something, it surely pissed off the beast. _Throne! These people live with these things and survive?_ And ironically the tribesmen that were working on their… thing, the placed a large tusk similar to the dragon-things own. Two of them were pulling on some rope and the others holding the contraption down. And then he heard a snap, and the tusk went flying at the beast. It soared through the air faster than he thought possible and landed right into the back of the dragon-thing. The damage was conventional as the tusk impaled the beast's upper back poking out its throat on the front of it. It roared and thrashed around knocking his men back, some flying through the air. The tribesmen immediately ran over and after a few minutes they pulled the head free, three of them lifting it up for all to see. He stood there gawking at how quickly they killed such a beast. _By the throne, they suffered no casualties and dealt with it swiftly and men just went scattering around being thrown away by its claws._ His assistant stood next to him, being as useless as ever. "Well sir, you didn't do anything to protect them and they fended for themselves. Infact all you did was throw away some of our men instead." Callidon slapped his assistants head.

"Getting violent like that and hitting me won't change the fact that you did nothing but loose our men." He said with his high pitched cheeky voice. Callidon spat and threw down his sword in frustration.

Argos looked at the female commissar in front of him. She was tall, slender, beautiful, and had long curly blond hair.

"So tell me again, miss… Cyria...Cyrio...What was it that you were ordered to do?" asked Argos confused. She smiled and said:

"I am Commissar Cyrene, and I was ordered to move along side your company and fight with it, sir." Argos stared at her, and then nodded in approval. He gestured for her to come along. As she followed him, she noticed an Astartes follow them. She looked up at Argos in question.

"Don't worry; he is my personal…guard. His name is Alaric. But don't mind him. So tell me Cyrene, it was Cyrene right? Well anyways my name is Captain Argos of third Company. I specialize in assault combat. So, Miss Cyrene, have you ever encountered Eldar before?"

She smiled and pointed at her chest, "Yes, I have heard of your name Captain Argos, sir, and I do have experience with the Eldar. Some Craftworlds are different from others so each new craftworld I encounter is a different experience."

"Good answer. What Craftworlds have you encountered?" asked Argos.

"Ulthwe, Biel-Tan, and uh, well I think it was the Alteioc or Aletioc… something like that."

"Biel-Tan are a pain; luckily they mostly go after the green-skins." chuckled Argos.

"Hehe, indeed they are." As they continued to move forward, Alaric pointed into a thicket of trees. And he lifted his plasma gun.

"Threat spotted, neutralizing." He uttered through the vox speaker. He began to fire, slowly moving his aim towards the right. Argos hefted up his large chain axe activating it, running towards where Alaric was firing. Cyrene stumbled a bit from the sudden fight that was taking place around her, and began to shout tactical orders to her men.

Argos found a few Eldar guardians taking a position near some trees, and lunged at the nearest one, swinging his axe at the aliens face; the teeth of the axe tore through and killed the Xeno quickly. He then twisted on his heel and sung backwards hitting another, but he hit a Striking Scorpion. _Lucky shot_ he thought. He saw Cyrene coming close to his left her and her squad firing at some guardians. He motioned for Alaric to follow, to which he did. The pair advanced deeper into the thicket of trees finding more and more of the Eldar within. Alaric attached his plasma gun to his thigh, and pulled free his thunder hammer from his back, the thrum of life coming out of the weapon and he smashed in the head of an incoming Eldar.

Alaric fell on his back, and Argos stumbled back. There was a flash, but it quickly receded. And then Argos saw a scrawny figure lifting up in the air. _A witch, eh? Petty…_ he hid behind a tree sitting on one knee and pulled free his storm bolter. He fired a quick double burst of bolts, seeing them detonate before they hit the Eldar witch. He grunted and voxed Alaric to stay back. _Damn they said they had a Culexus Assassin around but where is it?_ But due to the thoughts of negativity the witch began to float towards where he figured Cyrene was as he heard a feminine shout to find cover. With perfect timing Argos broke cover and ran at the witch his chain axe roaring landing down on her back ripping through the alien cloth. The witch screeched and Argos landed on his back. Before he could recuperate the witch spun around and pointed her outstretched fingers at him lightning coming out engulfing him. He grunted dismissing the sudden pain, and got up. However he fell back to one knee, cause of the force. Alaric twisted his chest to the side hefting his large hammer with both hands and then twisted straight up again throwing the hammer right at the witch. The witch saw the large weapon spinning towards her and she held up both hands using psychic energies to stop it from reaching her. The weapon fell to the floor.

However, by that point Argos was on her. He had his combat gladius out (which was strapped to his waist) and sliced off the witches hand. As she screeched he silenced her with a swift blow to the neck, the blade gliding through with sickening ease, the witches head flying off her shoulders. As he stood up, the witch's body fell to the muddy ground. He walked over to the head and smashed it under his boot.

Argos went over and helped up a fallen Cyrene. She thanked him and then turned to her men to see if they were okay. Alaric walked over to where his hammer lay and picked it up. Argos did to the same picking up his chain axe and sheathing his gladius.

"Killed the bitch dead; Captain. Glorious work as always." said Alaric.

"No one likes a psyker, especially one of these Xeno witches." affirmed Argos. Cyrene walked over to Argos and gave him a smile.

"That was amazing Captain, You are a true warrior and leader!"

"I've had worse, which was nice that this one was weak, because I'll let you know now there are some witches out there that have unbelievable destructive power. I've lost many fine men at the hands of the psyker scum in previous battles." He sighed then continued to say: "Well put it this way, Cyrene, there are going to be more like this one." Cyrene nodded.

"Of course, sir, I won't let my guard go down!" said Cyrene beaming. And from that point they continued on down. Argos finished voxing to the other sergeants, learning of their status and then proceeded to give them orders to continue down south.

"Eldar? I'm not familiar with Xenos, never seen an Eldar before." said Aleiya.

"I suppose it's natural. I haven't seen one before either. Although in the immaterium I've seen some ugly things." said Kaelseph. He looked down at the book in his lap, it was an old text mostly filled with poems and rants of Xenos.

"You know, Kael, it's not a good idea to look out the windows when we go into the warp. They say it will draw you in. The Chapter has fought the Forces of Chaos plenty of times, it's not healthy." she murmured.

"Oh I know, and I normally don't but it's just… Strange. How Chaos can affect everything. I don't like it when the Chapter has to fight the heretical, that's how things go downhill for everyone."

"We should probably speak about something else." Aleiya quickly interjected. Kaelseph nodded in agreement.

"So, why do you think the Eldar are here?" he asked with a smile. And her answer with a sigh.

_So here we are at the base of the Eldar._ Argos looked around spotting first and second company to his diagonal left and right. _So everyone is here._ However to his discomfort there were no Eldar in sight. The place was empty with just the alien ambience humming along. It sounded like music. He turned to Cyrene and said: "Are your other squads here too?"

"Yes, they are sir. They all came along with Second Company. And are waiting for further orders." Argos gave a nod. He then opened a vox link to Second Company's Captain Severus.

-Brother, I see you're still in one piece.-

-Yes. I am quite fine. Good to see a newbie like you still alive too.-

-What do you think is going on? There aren't any eldar here.-

-That is probably because we killed all of the—

-Severus?-

-…-

_Damnit, something is disrupting the vox channels. It must be psychic._ He looked over directly down into the base. The ground started to shake beneath his feet, his power armor's stabilizer pistons struggling to balance out the constant shaking. Unfortunately for Cyrene her and her squads fell down due to the force. Argos tried to look and see what was happening.

What he saw, was a large pillar of blue light shooting from the ground to the sky with swirling arcane energies swimming around it, like a vortex of souls trying to escape. Or be stolen. However he saw an object in the vortex of madness, a cubical device of sorts, and it was glowing blue and green.

"All Companies, Attack!" said a sudden voice. It was Reyleth, his Chapter Master. He was issuing an attack to commence down below. He saw large skinny walking stick things down below. And a witch of sorts frantically moving its arms around seemingly controlling the whole rift. Argos lifted his hand for his company to surge forward. Then closing it into a fist but sticking out two fingers to signal his battle brothers to tactically advance.

As Argos raced down the kill to the Eldar, he could Reyleth leap down with a sudden crash, brandishing his lightning claws, charging at the nearest Eldar Wraithguard. Reyleth plunged right into its large head, the claws tearing through the alien material. The machine thing crumbled down. And Reyleth spun around with grace finishing it off. He then began to run towards the witch, but more walkers got in his way, he kept his pace running into them but impaled the claws into the faces of them and then swung his arms together smashing the machines together. He then jumped up using the large ornate jump pack and crashed down creating a large shockwave, causing the ground to split from such force.

Second Company Captain Severus thundered across the battlefield his hulking terminator armor impervious to any attack. He was sure he stepped on a few Eldar, but he didn't mind. He charged right into a Walker, with a brutal force knocking it back. It swung at him, but he caught its skinny arm with his Powerfist and snapped it. He then took the dismembered limb and stabbed it right into the machines head. He then lifted his storm bolter and shot a burst of rounds in it.

Argos hefted his chain axe swing left and right cutting down enemies with every swing. He saw one of the walkers point its gun at him and started firing. He jumped to the side, and started to run in a criss-cross fashion. When he got close enough he arched his weapon's blow chopping the arm off, and then he doubled back swinging behind him, his chain axe biting into the side of it. He turned away from the machine, quickly analyzing his surroundings. He could see the Imperial Guards being torn apart by the Wraithguard, and some of them running away from the machines. However he could see that had to fight because Cyrene started to go after them.

Reyleth finally butchered his way through to the witch. She was there alone. Luckily there was not any honor guard. He used his vox speaker to shout to it: "Your plans to steal away, whatever it is, are now foiled bitch." The witch turned around and faced him. She then cast her hand out lightning coming forth from the finger tips. He pivoted on his heel covering his front. But just as he was ready to counter attack, the witch started to screech, like many of the others. He saw a figure in black, with a large contraption around its head. It was the size of a mortal. He instantly knew what it was. The dispatched Assassin. From the Culexus Clade. He then grunted in dissatisfaction at the fact that it wasn't him, who killed it.

The death of the witch did not go untold. The vortex that it created had dissipated however a large shockwave was unleashed knocking everything over; Reyleth was only bent down on one knee though. As he quickly recovered he looked around the Eldar were dead. And the Wraithguard with them. Reyleth immediately voxed to his two sons.

-Severus, Argos, give me a fatality toll. Now.-

-From the overall scale of the battle, Second Company lost 10 battle Brothers.-

-Third Company lost 5.-

-15 Battle Brothers. I see. Displeasing. Unfathomable. Severus, you have gotten soft. You need to get back in shape; I don't want any death at the hands of Eldar.-

-Yes, father, I am…sorry.-

Argos stood there, pushing over rubble and pulling out Alaric from beneath. "You know I can't be the one saving you, when you should be my guard, Alaric." said Argos jokingly.

"Sorry about that, that ground was too soft." replied Alaric smiling behind his helmet. They both gave each other a friendly push. Argos then walked over to where he last saw Cyrene, luckily she was fine. And her squad members were also fine.

"Good to see that you and your men are alright Miss Cyrene." said Argos.

"Yes, sir. However this part of the regiment did suffer. Those Wraithguard did some damage to it." Argos nodded in consent. Loosing men was never a pleasant thought to any commander with the exception of the calculating types.

"Lord Reyleth was quite amazing out there; I could see him destroy those Xenos with such precision!"

"Yes, our father has a dislike for the psychic like me. Although you haven't seen what he is capable of, it's like something out of a book. I guess…" Cyrene giggled at his attempt to describe his master at his fullest.

"I am sure he is." He gave an awkward nod, and then turned his attention to Alaric.

"Go see to it that these fallen brothers have their gene-seed extracted by Vern." Alaric nodded and walked off in some direction. Cyrene sat there on her ass resting a bit. She looked around seeing her men helping the fallen get up or retrieving the injured. She frowned at the fact there were many causalities. _I didn't know there would be that many wraithguard, Infact the bulk of the enemy were wraithguard. They decimated our soldiers. Lord General will not be pleased with that._ She saw the figure of her assistant slowly approach her with a limp. She got up and went over to him.

"Are you alright? How bad have you sustained damage?"

"It's nothing, ma'am. Just a minor sprang from the shockwave." said her assistant calmly. Cyrene nodded, still with the look of worry on her face. After all, Cyrene was never fond of soldiers dying. She was especially displeased when it came down with her own hand for disciplinary reasons.

At times, only those with the strongest faith would survive. However some consider faith a form of hope. And most say that hope leads to disappointment. Happiness is needles, and Mercy is a sign of weakness. They tell us that we should be suspicious of our neighbors. A suspicious mind is a healthy mind. These are dark times, and those words may be cruel, but they are true.

At this point, the story makes its turn. Loyalties destroyed, friends become enemies, and our enemies become our friends. This is the time where the Apotheosis or the Downfall of a man begins.


End file.
